diff --git a/pkg/config/template.go b/pkg/config/template.go
index 502ddfaa134..47c9760789b 100644
--- a/pkg/config/template.go
+++ b/pkg/config/template.go
@@ -960,6 +960,7 @@ allowed_annotations = [
 
 const templateStringCrioRuntimeWorkloads = `# The workloads table defines ways to customize containers with different resources
 # that work based on annotations, rather than the CRI.
+# Note, the behavior of this table is EXPERIMENTAL and may change at any time.
 # Each workload, has a name, activation_annotation, annotation_prefix and set of resources it supports mutating.
 # The currently supported resources are "cpu" (to configure the cpu shares) and "cpuset" to configure the cpuset.
 # Each resource can have a default value specified, or be empty.
@@ -971,21 +972,23 @@ const templateStringCrioRuntimeWorkloads = `# The workloads table defines ways t
 # [crio.runtime.workloads.workload-type]
 # activation_annotation = "io.crio/workload"
 # annotation_prefix = "io.crio.workload-type"
-# resources = { "cpu" = "", "cpuset" = "0-1", }
+# [crio.runtime.workloads.workload-type.resources]
+# cpuset = 0
+# cpushares = "0-1"
 # Where:
 # The workload name is workload-type.
 # To specify, the pod must have the "io.crio.workload" annotation (this is a precise string match).
 # This workload supports setting cpuset and cpu resources.
 # annotation_prefix is used to customize the different resources.
 # To configure the cpu shares a container gets in the example above, the pod would have to have the following annotation:
-# "io.crio.workload-type.cpu/{container_name} = {shares}"
+# "io.crio.workload-type/$container_name = {"cpushares": "value"}"
 {{ range $workload_type, $workload_config := .Workloads  }}
 [crio.runtime.workloads.{{ $workload_type }}]
 activation_annotation = "{{ $workload_config.ActivationAnnotation }}"
 annotation_prefix = "{{ $workload_config.AnnotationPrefix }}"
-{{ if $workload_config.Resources }}
-resources = { {{ range $resource, $default := $workload_config.Resources }}{{ printf "%q = %q, " $resource $default }}{{ end }}}
-{{ end }}
+[crio.runtime.workloads.{{ $workload_type }}.resources]
+cpuset = "{{ $workload_config.Resources.CPUSet }}"
+cpushares = {{ $workload_config.Resources.CPUShares }}
 {{ end }}
 
 `
diff --git a/pkg/config/workloads.go b/pkg/config/workloads.go
index c52a60c6f4b..5ecfa6453bb 100644
--- a/pkg/config/workloads.go
+++ b/pkg/config/workloads.go
@@ -1,18 +1,17 @@
 package config
 
 import (
-	"strconv"
+	"encoding/json"
 
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runtime-tools/generate"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
-	libresource "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/resource"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cm/cpuset"
 )
 
-const (
-	CPUShareResource = "cpushares"
-	CPUSetResource   = "cpuset"
-)
+type Resources struct {
+	CPUShares uint64 `json:"cpushares,omitempty"`
+	CPUSet    string `json:"cpuset,omitempty"`
+}
 
 type Workloads map[string]*WorkloadConfig
 
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ type WorkloadConfig struct {
 	// If a container is configured to use this workload, and does not specify
 	// the annotation with the resource and value, the default value will apply.
 	// Default values do not need to be specified.
-	Resources map[string]string `toml:"resources"`
+	Resources *Resources `toml:"resources"`
 }
 
 func (w Workloads) Validate() error {
@@ -46,16 +45,7 @@ func (w *WorkloadConfig) Validate(workloadName string) error {
 	if w.ActivationAnnotation == "" {
 		return errors.Errorf("annotation shouldn't be empty for workload %q", workloadName)
 	}
-	for resource, defaultValue := range w.Resources {
-		m, ok := mutators[resource]
-		if !ok {
-			return errors.Errorf("process resource %s for workload %s: resource not supported", resource, workloadName)
-		}
-		if err := m.ValidateDefault(defaultValue); err != nil {
-			return errors.Wrapf(err, "process resource %s for workload %s: default value %s invalid", resource, workloadName, defaultValue)
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
+	return w.Resources.ValidateDefaults()
 }
 
 func (w Workloads) MutateSpecGivenAnnotations(ctrName string, specgen *generate.Generator, sboxAnnotations map[string]string) error {
@@ -63,22 +53,12 @@ func (w Workloads) MutateSpecGivenAnnotations(ctrName string, specgen *generate.
 	if workload == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	for resource, defaultValue := range workload.Resources {
-		value := valueFromAnnotation(resource, defaultValue, workload.AnnotationPrefix, ctrName, sboxAnnotations)
-		if value == "" {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		m, ok := mutators[resource]
-		if !ok {
-			// CRI-O bug
-			panic(errors.Errorf("resource %s is not defined", resource))
-		}
-
-		if err := m.MutateSpec(specgen, value); err != nil {
-			return errors.Wrapf(err, "mutating spec given workload %s", workload.ActivationAnnotation)
-		}
+	resources, err := resourcesFromAnnotation(workload.AnnotationPrefix, ctrName, sboxAnnotations, workload.Resources)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
+	resources.MutateSpec(specgen)
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -93,57 +73,41 @@ func (w Workloads) workloadGivenActivationAnnotation(sboxAnnotations map[string]
 	return nil
 }
 
-func valueFromAnnotation(resource, defaultValue, prefix, ctrName string, annotations map[string]string) string {
-	annotationKey := prefix + "." + resource + "/" + ctrName
+func resourcesFromAnnotation(prefix, ctrName string, annotations map[string]string, defaultResources *Resources) (*Resources, error) {
+	annotationKey := prefix + "/" + ctrName
 	value, ok := annotations[annotationKey]
 	if !ok {
-		return defaultValue
+		return defaultResources, nil
 	}
-	return value
-}
-
-var mutators = map[string]Mutator{
-	CPUShareResource: new(cpuShareMutator),
-	CPUSetResource:   new(cpusetMutator),
-}
 
-type Mutator interface {
-	ValidateDefault(string) error
-	MutateSpec(*generate.Generator, string) error
-}
-
-type cpusetMutator struct{}
+	var resources *Resources
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(value), &resources); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
-func (m *cpusetMutator) ValidateDefault(set string) error {
-	if set == "" {
-		return nil
+	if resources.CPUSet == "" {
+		resources.CPUSet = defaultResources.CPUSet
+	}
+	if resources.CPUShares == 0 {
+		resources.CPUShares = defaultResources.CPUShares
 	}
-	_, err := cpuset.Parse(set)
-	return err
-}
 
-func (*cpusetMutator) MutateSpec(specgen *generate.Generator, configuredValue string) error {
-	specgen.SetLinuxResourcesCPUCpus(configuredValue)
-	return nil
+	return resources, nil
 }
 
-type cpuShareMutator struct{}
-
-func (*cpuShareMutator) ValidateDefault(cpuShare string) error {
-	if cpuShare == "" {
+func (r *Resources) ValidateDefaults() error {
+	if r.CPUSet == "" {
 		return nil
 	}
-	if _, err := libresource.ParseQuantity(cpuShare); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
+	_, err := cpuset.Parse(r.CPUSet)
+	return err
 }
 
-func (*cpuShareMutator) MutateSpec(specgen *generate.Generator, configuredValue string) error {
-	u, err := strconv.ParseUint(configuredValue, 0, 64)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+func (r *Resources) MutateSpec(specgen *generate.Generator) {
+	if r.CPUSet != "" {
+		specgen.SetLinuxResourcesCPUCpus(r.CPUSet)
+	}
+	if r.CPUShares != 0 {
+		specgen.SetLinuxResourcesCPUShares(r.CPUShares)
 	}
-	specgen.SetLinuxResourcesCPUShares(u)
-	return nil
 }
diff --git a/test/workloads.bats b/test/workloads.bats
index 5d1a35312be..49848bfd7bf 100644
--- a/test/workloads.bats
+++ b/test/workloads.bats
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ function create_workload() {
 [crio.runtime.workloads.management]
 activation_annotation = "$activation"
 annotation_prefix = "$prefix"
-resources = { "cpushares" =  "$cpushares", "cpuset" = "$cpuset" }
+[crio.runtime.workloads.management.resources]
+cpushares =  $cpushares
+cpuset = "$cpuset"
 EOF
 }
 
@@ -71,12 +73,12 @@ function check_cpu_fields() {
 
 	start_crio
 
-	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg set "$set" --arg setkey "$prefix.cpuset/$name" \
+	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg set "{\"cpuset\": \"$set\"}" --arg setkey "$prefix/$name" \
 		'   .annotations[$act] = "true"
 		|   .annotations[$setkey] = $set' \
 		"$TESTDATA"/sandbox_config.json > "$sboxconfig"
 
-	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg name "$name" --arg set "$set" --arg setkey "$prefix.cpuset/$name" \
+	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg name "$name" --arg set "{\"cpuset\": \"$set\"}" --arg setkey "$prefix/$name" \
 		'   .annotations[$act] = "true"
 		|   .annotations[$setkey] = $set
 		|   .metadata.name = $name' \
@@ -94,12 +96,12 @@ function check_cpu_fields() {
 
 	start_crio
 
-	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg set "$set" --arg setkey "$prefix.cpuset/$name" \
+	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg set "{\"cpuset\": \"$set\"}" --arg setkey "$prefix/$name" \
 		'   .annotations[$act] = "true"
 		|   .annotations[$setkey] = $set' \
 		"$TESTDATA"/sandbox_config.json > "$sboxconfig"
 
-	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg name "$name" --arg set "$set" --arg setkey "$prefix.cpuset/$name" \
+	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg name "$name" --arg set "{\"cpuset\": \"$set\"}" --arg setkey "$prefix/$name" \
 		'   .annotations[$act] = "true"
 		|   .annotations[$setkey] = $set
 		|   .metadata.name = $name' \
@@ -117,11 +119,11 @@ function check_cpu_fields() {
 
 	start_crio
 
-	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg set "$set" --arg setkey "$prefix.cpuset/$name" \
+	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg set "{\"cpuset\": \"$set\"}" --arg setkey "$prefix/$name" \
 		'   .annotations[$setkey] = $set' \
 		"$TESTDATA"/sandbox_config.json > "$sboxconfig"
 
-	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg name "$name" --arg set "$set" --arg setkey "$prefix.cpuset/$name" \
+	jq --arg act "$activation" --arg name "$name" --arg set "{\"cpuset\": \"$set\"}" --arg setkey "$prefix/$name" \
 		'   .annotations[$setkey] = $set
 		|   .metadata.name = $name
 		|   del(.linux.resources.cpu_shares)' \